Cafe Rio Aptos

Love the Rio! We are there at least once a week. We usually go for a walk on Sea Cliff beach, then come to the Rio for ‘Rio Clams’ for appetizers and drinks. Service is friendly and prompt and you can sit inside or outside on the patio. Be sure to ask for the ‘Rio’ clams, not the regular steamers. The broth is to die for– with wine white sauce and bits of smoked applewood bacon and sweet cherry tomatoes. Other appetizers are also good– we recommend the Calamari. The drinks are generous and well done and the bartender is a doll. Dinner is good there as well– but be forewarned– it’s casual. Burgers are excellent. Too bad there is not a second floor because the view would be knock-​out. For a casual dining experience, beach side, or lunch or happy hour, this is your place and located on one of the nicest beaches in Santa Cruz county. Try it you’ll like it!

Celebrated my husband’s 50^th with friends showing up to surprise him and it was the best evening out on the patio. Everyone had fun. Service and good was great. Brought my own cakes and they didn’t try to stick it to us on the bill. Really was fun-​great place!

The sand dabs were outstanding! My wife had salmon that was great. Great atmosphere excellent service.

1-​star edit: I’ve been sick to my stomach since the drive home. We had to stop to get me some Pepto. Thanks for that.
2 stars for location and availability.
We took our moms here for a Mother’s Day brunch, grateful for a place on the water that would take a party of 7 without weeks of advance notice.
The seating hostesses made eye contact but didn’t speak to us. After standing in front of them awkwardly I had to ask to check in.
Our server was slow and inattentive. she did seem to have many tables.
The food was $ 20-​ish per plate, and the quality was dismal. Portions were small, my frittata was tasteless and had obviously been under a heat lamp for a very long time. My sister’s flatiron steak (which she ordered medium) was so rare that parts of it were blue. I’ve seen more appetising food on airplanes.
We would have let the server know, but we never saw her again until she brought the check, at which point we were in a hurry to leave.
Rio, you worked hard to ensure that we won’t be back.

I found the sand dabs batter was greasy and needing seasoning. The fish was cooked well. Lack of presentation.
Would not order again.

We had «a meal» an advertised special for $ 10.00, it turns out it was an appetizer not a dinner meal. It was a third the size of the normal dinner pasta that costs $ 19.00. It did have a glass of house wine with it, but I think only 4 mouth full of pasta and sauce. This was the dinner special at Café Rio in Aptos for Tuesday night. Fool me once but not twice.

Best Sand Dabs on the coast and you can never go wrong with their daily special. Attentive service a plus. The owner has a lot of pride in this place and it shows. You will not be disappointed here!

I forget about this place and shouldn’t. I ended up going there last Saturday night and vowed to make it over there more often. We were seated at a table by the window, so we could watch the sunset — beautiful! Our server, Jonathan, was entertaining and attentive, very helpful with wine selection. The food was excellent. It’s somewhat pricey, so I would say this is a place for special to semi-​special occasions. They have some great specialty drinks — the De La Cruz (I think) has cilantro and jalapeño… sure to wake you up, if needed. We went to Café Rio after not having gone for ages because we had bid on a gift card at a charity event. Smart move, owners! We’ll be back soon.

1 star cause the food was good. 0 stars for service. They judged my friends and I since we looked «young». The server came back and scanned our IDs because they thought our california IDS were fake. Then they watched our table the whole time we were sitting down. Come to be judged

Excellent beach café. Great atmosphere, food and friendly servers.

Excellent diner sand dabs, great service, lots of fresh veggies on place with great mmmmmmm fish

What a great spot right across from the public beach. We went here for happy hour. They have a great HH dinner of the day for 10 $ that comes with a glass of wine. On Monday, it wad fish tacos. Perfect. The patio is awesome. Inside is kind of dark.

Visited this place on a family trip to California. The food was tasty and the service was memorable. I had ordered a menu item they were out of and the chef recreated a dish based on the ingredients they had in the kitchen. I recommend checking it out.

Let me first say that I do come here relatively frequently because I live close by and it’s a great meeting location. Before my last experience I would have given this place 3 – 4 stars. The food is OK, though expensive for what you get, the service is usually pretty average and on occasion I’ve even had waitresses with major attitude problems, but the location is the best in Aptos.
The two-​star review was earned the last time I was there when I met a friend for drinks and one hummus appetizer. I don’t drink, so I had two virgin margaritas, and she had a beer and a glass of wine, and our bill without tip was around $ 80! I asked the waitress why it was so expensive because I had non-​alcoholic drinks, and get this. Are you ready? She said they charge MORE for non-​alcoholic drinks. Have you ever heard of anything so ridiculous in your life??? I have a friend who is a restraunteur over the hill who agreed with me and said there is no financial reason for that.
So once again, in full disclosure, I will probably go there again in the next few months. But you can be damn sure I’ll be drinking water! Ugh…

I am always skeptical of beach front restaurants as most seem to fly by on location alone thinking they will constantly have a steady stream of tourists. Café Rio is clearly not one of those places. I took the family here (9 yr old, 5 yr old, wife) last month while we were visiting the area for the weekend. Our server was amazing — helped us pick great dishes and took fantastic care of us. The food was very good — my steak was great, wife’s fish delish. The ribs my son had were a little charred, but still great flavor. All-​in-​all, a great meal (even with kids)!

I can’t speak for others but I went out to Santa Cruz to visit my friend and ended up in Aptos having an amazing experience at Café Rio.
I loved the place so much while I was in (near) Santa Cruz I went twice! The patio is perfect and the view of the ocean is relaxing. I ordered the Smoked Salmon which was delicious. Of course part of my experience was the service. The staff was happy, fun and nice. My bartender and server were Cameron and Nate, who went beyond in their service to me and my friends.
When I go back to Santa Cruz area I will for sure catch a beautiful sunset again at Café Rio. This would be a very cool place for a birthday party or holiday party. I definitely recommend.

This restaurant is a long time favorite of mine. Their new menu is amazing (try the lobster!) also their oysters are the best.
I love this place!

I’ve been here many times; sometimes solo, sometimes with friends. They used to have wonderful signature drinks, being close to the beach, and usually good food. Unfortunately, the service continues to decline. Ambiance and food are good, but the service is really bad and the drinks are very overpriced for what you get. I don’t recommend the special drinks because not only are the weak in flavor, but they skimp on the alcohol and amount (there a full finger space from the rim to the drink).
Service was very poor. Waitress was sweet, but not only was poorly supported but seemed to lack training in basic table service. Food arrived without any flat ware nor napkins. Everything took far too long to arrive to the table, and when it did I never once saw my server to check on it. The food was delivered by runners but server never checked to see how it was. Not once. She never asked how anything was nor did she attempt to correct anything that was wrong. She just apologized and blamed the kitchen.
Now, my memory recalls the poor service that tends to happen outside on the patio; inside it’s mixed. The owner doesn’t seem to care. I get the impression that she’s «resting on the laurels» of being a beach side restaurant. There’s others and I don’t think I’ll be returning. Plus, I’ll be sure my friends in the area know to stay away. So many other choices.

The iron steak was not tasting like a steak, one side was tasting like garlics death, the other side was tasting like herbs … The waiter did take my plate before the other person on the table was done, and the waitress are good looking, if this is what you like, ignore my review … Hot chicks it is … I can t recommend the place, due to the food quality … Sorry! Less than 3 stars, disappointing, from outside, it looked promising
The chef needs to go to culinary school, the mistake on the food were not excusable

First of all, I’m beyond thankful that Café Rio was able to accommodate our somewhat rowdy group of 10 on a Saturday night at 7pm!
The dining room is quaint and cozy and filled with local regulars. Our server was very knowledgeable and patient with our crew. She was prompt with drinks, then appetizers, ordering our main dishes in an orderly fashion, and expeditious in delivering our meals and drinks.
Our table ordered a smattering of dishes… Notable comments:
–the sand dabs were ok, not our favorite dish of the night. They tasted very buttery and rich, probably a little too much so for fish
–calamari steak was excellent– perfectly crispy panko crust
–swordfish was moist, tasty, and the mago salsa paired very well with it
–the house burger stood out from the norm with avocado and bacon to enhance it
For convenience gratuity was included in our bill due to our large group.